The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh announced Tuesday it is offering eligible faculty and staff a voluntary retirement buyout with a one-time payment equal to 50% of an employee's annual base salary.

UW-Oshkosh becomes the third campus within the UW System to offer buyouts in an effort to reduce its workforce in the face of state budget cuts. UW-Eau Claire was the first, followed last week by UW-Superior.

UW-Oshkosh expects about 100 employees would be eligible. It has set a goal of reducing its workforce by 80 within the next three years.(34)

History shows Packers GM Ted Thompson has paid good money for good players

Green Bay - You can bash Ted Thompson all you want for not taking part in free agency - and he deserves some of it - but when it comes to sorting out the wheat from the chaff, the Packers GM has a pretty impeccable record. »Read Full Blog Post

While we strive for a lively and vigorous debate of the issues, we do not tolerate name calling, foul language or other inappropriate behavior. Please see our discussion guidelines and terms of use for more information.

While we do our best to moderate comments, we do not screen comments before they are posted. If you see a comment that violates our guidelines, please use the "Report Abuse" link to notify us of the issue.

The rumor is that if you back out the singing bonus, the salary charged against the cap is between 5 and 6 million during the first two years of the contract. And stump, when you sign a free agent, you are always paying for potential. You have the past performance to base judgment upon, and you hope that said player performs to potential. Truth is, TT has had far more hits than misses.

Agree merle, all signings are based upon potential, but in this case I would argue that the chance to realize full value on the contract is not high, making it a risky signing. To get value, the Packers will have to see Shields attain a top-3 or top-5 CB level in the NFL, which is how he's being paid. What are the chances that Shields attains that lofty status? Maybe 50/50? That's not a safe bet, certainly. Let's just say this contract a fairly big gamble from a guy (TT) who is not known to be a gambler. Maybe they know something about Shields that we don't? You can only hope.

Given that there are a lot of good CB's available in free agency this year, we overpaid. He got paid like one of the best, and he's not. Overpaying for our own free agents is just as damaging to the cap and our financial position as overpaying for other free agents. Last year we overpaid Burnett and Jones, this year Shields. Yes, they are our own, but not great players, nor are they irreplaceable. We could have been signing second tier free agents to patch holes in the lineup as well as replace those guys.

Contact is team-friendly. Next two years are very manageable. If he doesn't perform, he can be let go before the really big money hits and by that time the overall cap number for the entire team will have gone up.

I am a Packer owner, too. As a matter of fact, TT called me a few hours before the Shields signing and I gave him my OK. But not before scolding him a bit for letting Drew get the better of him. Sorry, rote, just didn't have time to give you a call.

Idk. Looking at that list I see B Jones, Burnett, Jermichael, Chillar and J Bush all overpaid. I do think he has done a great job at letting aging players walk. I remember when Kampman left, I was irrate. But turned out it was a good call. TT's strengths are drafting offensive position players, finding UDFA/late picks (Shields, Tramon, B Jones as a 7th round pick who was above average at OLB, Sitton, Finley, Bostick) and drafting the best available player. My pet peave is, however, that he does not pursue vet players for shorter contracts. Aka Shaun Phillips last year. Perfect fit for a 3-4 edge rusher. Cost 2-3mil. I can only imagine if he was playing all year instead of Mulumba and Perry.

True. I hope Kuhn is back for 1-1.5 mil. But nothing more. FB's are never worth more than that. Especially in a pass happy league. Key is if we lose him, we'd need a third down back who can block. Franklin is not ready for that role. Maybe Dwyer from PIT?

Why do people care how much players get paid in FA" it's not their money. The only time it becomes a problem is if team gets backed into the corner because of mismanagement of the cap. TT and Ball really haven't had that problem so chill everyone

I wish that were true. Because we signed Shields we have less money to find a safety, an inside linebacker, or players for the DL. It's simple, if you pay one player, you can't pay others. And we need to add some talent to this team.

Judging the performance of a GM based on his player signings is pretty silly. Teams don't get trophies for signing players or letting them go, they get trophies for winning the Super Bowl.

Yes, the Packers have performed pretty well with TT as GM, far better than teams such as the Raiders, Jaguars or Browns. But they are also fortunate to be playing in a really poor division which virtually guarantees even an average team of making it to the playoffs every year.

The one thing holding TT's teams back is the fact that he is so averse to signing free agents that he'll instead allow his teams to have weaknesses that cost them wins. The deficiencies at LB, safety and backup QB last season are a prime example.

Yes, TT has been good, but to call his decisions "impeccable" is quite a reach in my opinion. If you're going to pat him on the back for letting players go, you also need to question his decisions on bringing them here in the first place.

TT should be judged on how the team performs this season, not on how much money the team does or doesn't spend on players.

Your points are well taken but every team as the same problems with the salary cap. In the last five seasons, ten different teams have gone to the Super Bowl. Green Bay is one of five teams to have won Super Bowls in the past five seasons. Over the same five seasons only New England (they have not won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season) has a better record than the Packers. Despite the Packers falling to 8-7-1 this past season, they still had a better record than 19 other teams. Since Thompson became the Packers' general manager in 2005 only the Steelers and Giants have won two Super Bowls. Ironically neither team had a winning season this past year. IF Thompson is so terrible, so is every general manager in the NFL.

Totally agree. We have a competitive team that depends heavily on AR. We saw what happened when he went down. Lots of people going on about us winning the division, but it was so weak this year that we almost won it by default. His decisions have not been "impeccable", and his averse attitude toward FA is hurting us. The last CBA with the four year rookie contracts changes the landscape more than many realize. You lose your draft picks after four years, or else you're forced to pay them like free agents - Shields is an example. But there are now more free agents then ever, and some decent players will be affordable. I'm guessing some of them are better than the talent on the team now. It make take time for some GM's to realize it, but there will be no way to ignore free agency in the near future, and it will be a very important way to find talent. Like the draft, it requires matching talent to value, and I think we overvalue our own draft picks.

In the long run, Hyde may be a better safety, but to expect him to step in next year in a new position and fix everything isn't realistic...I say keep him where he is, he did a nice job in the slot and with a year under his belt should be even better next year...there are plenty of capable safeties in free agency

Although Hyde was adequate for the most part covering the slot, Hayward was exceptional. If he comes back healthy, then moving Hyde to safety (though he sounded reluctant to do so) could upgrade both the slot coverage and if nothing else, give us another option at safety should TT not invest a high draft pick on one.

many of the free agent safeties would not "break the bank"....Ryan Clark has played in the same defense for years, so has Whitner to just name 2...I like Hyde, but regardless if he played safety at Iowa or not, he hasn't in this defense....and I for one don't think I can stomach another year of opposing WR's running wide open in the secondary due to blown coverages....time to fix this once and for all

I'm not disagreeing with that dixon.....a good pass rush helps the entire defense more than anything else....but even with zero pass rush, there shouldn't be guys running open without a packer defender within 20 yards....that is lack of awareness, and in large part lack of experience....I think Riley Cooper should take some of that new contract and send a check to MD Jennings

I like Hyde a lot, but I don't know if his college experience would translate to the NFL easily or not. The coaches know a lot more than I do, so I'll let them decide where he is come training camp and opening day.

I'd love to see Hyde play that Woodson role. Some safety, some slot DB. Blitzing. Guy can tackle. I'd think some 3 deep safety sets like the Giants run would be a nice mix up in pass happy league. Burnett and Hyde on outside, with a FS (M Jenkins, M Mitchell, DeCoud)

I love Hyde's attitude, his smarts, and his heart. But he got burned several times this year because he's not very fast. I think he will need to be moved to safety, if not this year then next. He just can't keep up with some of the speedier slot receivers.

Antonio Cromartie just released by Jets. Let's see what he winds up signing for. It, along with the rest of the corners that go off the board, will reconfirm that Shields' signing was a ridiculous overspend.

in case you haven't noticed avatar, there are some very good, very fast, receivers in the NFC North...I don't see another CB on the roster who can hang with those guys on deep patterns...so if Shields walks, what then??...draft one??...well then you have the issue of a rookie learning on the fly....not to mention, you are spending a draft choice on CB when you they still need a pass rusher, TE, ILB, WR, etc...with Shields returning, they are 5 deep

Everyone criticizes for over spending, but in reality, a true replacement is not available for a lower price.

Being a GM would be really easy if all you had to do was tell every player, "we are not going to give you that much money because we don't think you are worth it," and then not have to find a replacement.

Cromartie was dinged last year, but the dude still can cover and the dude can fly, in fact he's probably as fast as Shields. He's also 6 foot 2 to Shields 5 foot 11. Also outweighs Shields by 20 or so pounds. Production the last four years has been equal. Pluses for Shields are age and Cromarite has a bad rep after fathering a gaggle of kids with a bunch of women.

Though I think it is a lot of money for Shield the pack paid a premium for a position they don't have to tinker with or work someone into the system. With the quality of receivers in the division alone, it is good to have two corners that can cover. Davon House has horrible ball skills and none of the others would even be close to adequate. Safety and pressure players need to be added to make the defense better. Shields helps make the transition easier.

Paying Sam Shields as though he were Aaron Rodgers or Clay Matthews is silly. Thompson was hornswoggled and hoodwinked on this one. Thompson is about to do more overpaying on Deitrich-Smith. Lets hope after these signings theres enough cash to bring some EXPERIENCE and talent in via free agency. How long do we keep denying how important veteran free agency was for the Packer Super Bowls? Making the team even younger is not a recope to get back to the Super Bowl.

I agree, though I'm not so concerned about experience. But we need a serious influx of talent on the entire defense, TE, and OL depth. Overpaying one player instead of finding five good players at a reasonable price is not sound.